Skull Island: The Birth of Kong

Both a sequel and a prequel to the film, the series tells the story tells of a secret team of Monarch operatives returning to Skull Island to discover the truth behind Kong and the island he was born to protect.

In doing so, they unlock an ancient history of monster conflict, witness the primal war between Kong and an otherworldly ecosystem of deadly new creatures, and finally reveal how this lonely god became the last of his kind.

Featuring new monsters and previously unseen Skull Island locations, the book gives fans a chance to see how Kong has evolved since the events of the film.

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— Synopsis

Skull Island: The Birth of Kong

Issue #1

Issue #2

General details

Author

Publisher

Legendary Comics

Publication date

April 12, 2017Issue #1June 21, 2017Issue #2

Genre

Science fiction

Production details

Media type

Print and digital

Skull Island: The Birth of Kong is a 4-part comic book issue by Legendary Comics that serves as both a sequel and a prequel to Legendary Pictures' Kong: Skull Island. The first issue was released on April 12, 2017, and the second was released on June 21, 2017.

Contents

Plot

Part One: The People Who Came From The Sky

On June 24, 2012, the Australian Navy responds to a mayday signal in the South Pacific, and finds a Kevlar float bag bearing the Monarch logo. Two weeks later, on July 9, Houston Brooks, who is one day away from retirement after working for Monarch for 40 years, is visited by a colleague named Singh at Monarch Field Office Sigma. Singh presents Brooks with the item recovered by the Australian Navy, which is a recording device that belonged to Brooks' son Aaron, who disappeared on an expedition to Antarctica in 1995. Brooks accesses the recorder using the password "GJALLARHORN," referring to the horn of Heimdall from Norse mythology, which Brooks often read to Aaron as a child. While driving home, Brooks listens to the recording, which contains Aaron's account of what really happened 17 years ago.

In a flashback to 1995, Aaron gets into an argument with his father regarding Skull Island, outraged that his father and Monarch allowed an island full of M.U.T.O.s to remain a secret, and that they entrusted Kong to guard it. Brooks explains that Kong is capable of keeping the island under control by himself. Aaron asks what humanity's second line of defense will be if Kong can't keep things on Skull Island under control, and how they are even sure whether or not Kong is still alive. Brooks says Monarch is monitoring everything via satellite, and that many of his colleagues died on the island in 1973, believing that it was a secret worth keeping. Aaron storms off as his father calls out after him.

On August 7, 1995, under the guise of visiting a M.U.T.O. fossil bed in Antarctica, Aaron and a team of Monarch operatives fly out to Skull Island aboard a V-22 Osprey sometime afterward. Accompanying Aaron are Evgenij Medov, a cryptobiologist, Evelyn Matemavi, whom Houston Brooks personally recruited into Monarch, Helen Karsten, a survival instructor considered a legend in the U.S. Navy, Cejudo, the pilot, and Walter R. Riccio, a mythographer. Aaron plans to spend at least three days gathering evidence, as he doesn't entrust Kong with humanity's survival and believes that the world has the right to know about Skull Island. As soon as the V-22 penetrates the storm cell around the island, it is attacked by a flock of Psychovultures, who damage the craft and send it crashing to the island below. Everyone except Cejudo parachutes out and lands on a cliff overlooking the island, seeing a flock of Leafwings flying past. The V-22 crashes to the west, and Brooks and his team decide to head that direction to try and rescue Cejudo, despite Riccio's protests.

They are almost immediately ambushed by a pack of Death Jackals, which kill and dismember Karsten while the others retreat to a cave. The Death Jackals chase the remaining humans into the cave, but before they can finish them off, a huge fist comes crashing down just outside the cave. Then the giant hand reaches into the cave, grabbing several Death Jackals and crushing them. The rest run out of the cave, only to be crushed by the beast's foot. The colossal ape stares at the cave entrance for a moment and walks away. Matemavi tends to Medov, who was mauled by the Death Jackals, saying that he's stable but they need to recover the medical supplies aboard the V-22, while Aaron is still amazed at the giant ape that saved them, recognizing it as Kong. Riccio alerts Aaron that they are not alone, as several Iwi natives enter the cave. A young Iwi boy introduces himself as Ato and welcomes Aaron and the others, addressing them as "Awati." Riccio asks Ato what "Awati" means, to which he replies "The people who come from the sky."

Part Two: The Mountain Who Thunders Death

The natives take the Monarch operatives to their village and give them a healing medicine brew. Nearly a year later, on July 14, Aaron records that he's starting to have second thoughts about Skull Island, and that he is not sure what to make of the Iwis claim of expecting them. Aaron also says that Riccio has managed to learn their native language and has taken a liking to the Iwi's medicine brew. In the meantime, Aaron befriends Ato, who reveals that he learned to speak English from his father, who was taught by Hank Marlow. After Aaron accidentally upsets a few of the natives when he bangs on their wall while admiring it, he is told by Riccio that he needs to see something.

Riccio brings Aaron and Matemavi to the site of a mural. He talks of Atenatua, a great seer who led the Iwis to Skull Island after fleeing from another tribe, and foretold the coming of the "Awati," which Matemavi explains to be Marlow and Gunpei Ikari, the 1973 expedition, and now them. Then Riccio's head starts hurting and he claims to see the event depicted in the mural: on Skull Island millions of years ago, Kong's family lived in peace until the Skullcrawlers came along, leading to a war of the gods. Riccio claims that Houston Brooks only scratched the surface and it's been decided that tomorrow the Iwis will take them on a pilgrimage where they will be the ones to unlock the mysteries of "the mountain-who-thunders-death," and meet with Kong himself. That night, Aaron tells Matemavi and Medov that they should focus on discovering what happened to Cejudo and the V-22, and they discuss Riccio claiming to have mystical visions or hallucinations possibly from drinking too much of the brew. Aaron says Skull Island is a gateway to hell and they need to know for sure if Kong can keep it closed. He decides to go along with the pilgrimage so they can observe Kong and look for the V-22 at the same time, and Matemavi and Medov agree.

The following morning, Aaron, Matemavi, and Medov paint themselves at Riccio's insistence and, accompanied by Ato and two other natives, they journey to a wrecked ship from the Dutch East India Company. Finding a mural inside depicting the Iwi's arrival to the island and two great apes, Riccio writhes in pain again. Ato claims the island's devils are whispering into Riccio's ear, that Riccio believes he has been touched by Kong, and that he might be a danger to them. Having another vision, Riccio sees Atenatua and Iwi refugees arrive on the island shore around the time the Skullcrawlers wiped out all but the two strongest apes, Kong's parents. Matemavi tries to calm Riccio but he storms out of the ship. The others chase after him when the ground they are standing on next to the ship suddenly shakes, revealing itself to be a Sirenjaw. After outrunning the Sirenjaw a bit, they find a crashed helicopter and Monarch crates with weapons from the 1973 expedition. Then Kong's roar is heard as he seemingly goes to battle against the Sirenjaw, and Aaron leads the others in Kong's direction.